Cheela pancakes with sweet potato and Madras lentils.
“Though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the cheela . . .”
I have eaten a great deal of Indian food in my time, but never in its native setting. Perhaps this is why I had never heard of cheela until recently. I don’t just write a food blog, I consume other people’s food blogs too! In addition to blogs from great chefs like David Chan’s Lucky Peach, there are some wonderful independent, home-cooks like Bhavna’s Kitchen – a YouTube channel that serves up quasi-nutritional food for thought. Gentle Readers, you probably already know that I can be a little on the unorthodox side when it comes to nutrition. Neverthless, Bhavna hit close to home this week and I have adapted her recipe to my tastes.
Bhavna likes her pancakes extra crispy and so fries them in a good deal of oil. I prefer mine more like crepes or English-style pancakes, so I use a non-stick pan and as little oil as I can get away with. Like any other pancakes, be prepared to throw the first couple of attempts away (or do like me and sneak-eat them when you think that no one is watching.)
The method is easy. Add the dry ingredients and then the wet ingredients. Allow the semolina grains to swell and adjust the consistency of the batter to your preference. Cook. Voila!
Not convinced? Well, we have a photo-intensive show-and-tell with photographs by Paulette Lassiter. I think that you will appreciate the improvement in quality!
Cheela!
Dry Ingredients:
1.5 C Semolina
.5 C Chick Pea Flour
.5 t Corriander
.5 t Cumin
.25 t Turmeric
Salt to taste
Wet Ingredients
.5 C Natural Plain Yogurt
2 T EVOO
1 T Ginger Paste
1 T Chopped Chiles
H2O as needed
Additional Items
Onion, Bell Pepper, Garlic & Spinach
Semolina – Semolina Semolina is the coarsely ground endosperm of durum wheat. high in protein, it is used by American and Italian manufacturers to make high quality pasta products such as macaroni and spaghetti. It is also used for couscous in Africa and Latin America
Method:
Add the Semolina and Chick Pea Flour in a large mixing bowl.
Garbanzo beans are loaded with protein and dietary fiber and are a good source of iron. Garbanzo bean flour‚ also known as gram flour, chickpea flour and cici bean flour‚ is popular in Middle Eastern and Indian cooking and baking.
Add the Corriander, Cumin, Tumeric and Salt – and mix to blend well.
Dry ingrdients and natural yogurt. In this case, it looks like yummy ice-cream!
Add the rest of the wet ingredients.
Please note the difference in textures here. I used a carbon-steel chef’s knife to slice the chile pepper finely, but left a chopped texture. The ginger was subjected to my trusty microplane (please see Tools of the Trade section of this blog.)
Always have Extra Virgin Olive Oil on hand. I do use coconut oil from time to time, but nine times out of ten, I reach for the EVOO.
In addition to a couple of tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I can’t tell you how long I scratched my head each time that I saw “EVOO” in a recipe!) you should now add just enough cold water to make a smooth paste. Then set this batter aside for as long as you need, but for no less than thirty minutes. This allows the grains of flour to swell. If you leave the batter past a day or so, you will see the batter begin to ferment and impart a sour flavor. This is the same taste as the sour in sourdough bread. Each to their taste.
If you ae going to add additional ingredients to your pancakes, now would be a good time to do it. In addition to saving time, it will allow the flavors to meld and – if there is any liquid given off by your added ingredients – you will have plenty of time to adjust after it has rested and relaxed.
I use a wok for many purposes. Here I threw the onion, garlic and bell peppers in with a little EVOO.
Next, I threw fresh spinach in until it wilted
When it had all stir-fried for a couple of minutes, all of the ingredients should have soften and reduced to look something like this.
Once you have mixed it with your batter, you should set it aside for no less than thirty minutes. The batter can be made well ahead of time and unused batter can be held or the pancakes themselves can be cooked-off and eaten cold.
When it comes to cooking your pancakes, think “CREPES.” You should now add more cold water until you have a thinner batter from which you can make your pancakes.
Pour a little oil into you pan or skillet and then wipe it back out again with a paper towel. That’s all you need. The hardest part of this process is finding the optimum (medium) flame to give your pan a consistant heat. Karl is a big advocate of cast-iron cookware and I suspect that they may be perfect for the job. I have a couple of trusty non-stick pans that I use, but you would probably want to use the same pan that you use for omelets.
Pour in just enough batter to coat the bottom of the pan. You are drying this out, rather than frying it (sorry, Bhavna}
When you can see that the edges are crisping and that the surface is drying and getting bubbles, it is time to turn it over. You do not need to cook it for as long on the underside.
I love the brown spots of the underside of a pancake!
Your finished cheela should be golden-brown on the top and flecked with brown spots on the underside. It should have the consistency of a soft crepe.
Always wipe out you pan with an oily paper towel between pancakes.
Serve with your favorite daal or saucy curry.
Enjoy!
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